0:00:06.692,0:00:10.852
Imagine that one day,[br]you're summoned before a government panel.

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Even though you haven't [br]committed any crime,

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or been formally charged with one,

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you are repeatedly questioned[br]about your political views,

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accused of disloyalty,

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and asked to incriminate your friends[br]and associates.

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If you don't cooperate,[br]you risk jail or losing your job.

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This is exactly what happened in[br]the United States in the 1950s

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as part of a campaign to expose[br]suspected communists.

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Named after its most [br]notorious practitioner,

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the phenomenon known as McCarthyism[br]destroyed thousands of lives and careers.

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For over a decade, American political [br]leaders trampled democratic freedoms

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in the name of protecting them.

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During the 1930s and 1940s,

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there had been an active but small[br]communist party in the United States.

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Its record was mixed.

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While it played crucial roles in wider [br]progressive struggles

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for labor and civil rights,

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it also supported the Soviet Union.

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From the start, the American [br]Communist Party faced attacks

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from conservatives and business leaders,

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as well as from liberals who criticized[br]its ties to the oppressive Soviet regime.

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During World War II, when the USA[br]and USSR were allied against Hitler,

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some American communists actually[br]spied for the Russians.

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When the Cold War escalated[br]and this espionage became known,

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domestic communism came to be seen[br]as a threat to national security.

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But the attempt to eliminate that threat

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soon turned into the longest lasting[br]and most widespread episode

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of political repression [br]in American history.

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Spurred on by a network of bureaucrats,

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politicians,

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journalists,

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and businessmen,

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the campaign wildly exaggerated[br]the danger of communist subversion.

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The people behind it harassed anyone

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suspected of holding [br]left-of-center political views

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or associating with those who did.

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If you hung modern art on your walls,

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had a multiracial social circle,

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or signed petitions against[br]nuclear weapons,

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you might just have been a communist.

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Starting in the late 1940s,

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FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover

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used the resources of his agency[br]to hunt down such supposed communists

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and eliminate them from any[br]position of influence

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within American society.

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And the narrow criteria that Hoover[br]and his allies used

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to screen federal employees

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spread to the rest of the country.

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Soon, Hollywood studios,

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universities,

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car manufacturers,

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and thousands of other public[br]and private employers

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were imposing the same political tests[br]on the men and women who worked for them.

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Meanwhile, Congress conducted [br]its own witchhunt

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subpoenaing hundreds of people[br]to testify before investigative bodies

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like the House Un-American [br]Activities Committee.

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If they refused to cooperate,[br]they could be jailed for contempt,

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or more commonly, fired and blacklisted.

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Ambitious politicians, like Richard Nixon

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and Joseph McCarthy,

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used such hearings as a partisan weapon

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accusing democrats [br]of being soft on communism

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and deliberately losing China[br]to the Communist Bloc.

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McCarthy, a Republican senator [br]from Wisconsin

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became notorious by flaunting[br]ever-changing lists of alleged communists

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within the State Department.

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Egged on by other politicians,

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he continued to make [br]outrageous accusations

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while distorting or fabricating evidence.

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Many citizens reviled McCarthy[br]while others praised him.

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And when the Korean War broke out,[br]McCarthy seemed vindicated.

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Once he became chair

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of the Senate's permanent subcommittee[br]on investigations in 1953,

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McCarthy recklessness increased.

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It was his investigation of the army that [br]finally turned public opinion against him

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and diminished his power.

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McCarthy's colleagues [br]in the Senate censured him

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and he died less than three years later,[br]probably from alcoholism.

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McCarthyism ended as well.

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It had ruined hundreds, [br]if not thousands, of lives

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and drastically narrowed the American[br]political spectrum.

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Its damage to democratic institutions[br]would be long lasting.

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In all likelihood, there were both[br]Democrats and Republicans

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who knew that the anti-communist[br]purges were deeply unjust

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but feared that directly opposing them[br]would hurt their careers.

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Even the Supreme Court failed[br]to stop the witchhunt,

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condoning serious violations[br]of constitutional rights

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in the name of national security.

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Was domestic communism an actual[br]threat to the American government?

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Perhaps, though a small one.

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But the reaction to it was so extreme[br]that it caused far more damage

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than the threat itself.

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And if new demagogues appeared[br]in uncertain times

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to attack unpopular minorities[br]in the name of patriotism,

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could it all happen again?